Postponed aims to defend Sheema Classic crown in Dubai following Coronation Cup win at Epsom

Geoffrey Riddle also reports Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Massaat is set for a break after he finished ninth in the Derby behind Harzand an hour-and-a-half after Postponed’s triumph.

Jockey Andrea Atzeni rides Postponed to victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Cup at Epsom Racecourse on June 4, 2016 in Epsom, England. Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

Sheikh Mohammed Obaid has revealed that Postponed is being aimed at a return to Meydan Racecourse next year after his victory in the Coronation Cup at Epsom on Saturday.

Postponed hammered Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Found by four-and-a-half lengths in the Group 1 race over 2,400 metres and became the third Sheema Classic winner to prevail at Epsom.

It was Postponed’s third consecutive win this season under Andrea Atzeni after he became the first horse to win the Dubai City Of Gold and Sheema Classic in March, and his owner clearly hopes the five-year-old becomes the first horse to defend his Sheema Classic crown in Dubai.

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Cirrus Des Aigles, the 2012 Sheema Classic winner, was the last horse to try to become a dual victor and finished second to Gentildonna in 2014.

“I have already decided that if Postponed is sound, he will go back to the Sheema Classic next year,” Postponed’s owner said.

Postponed, who is sired by Dubawi – also owned by the cousin of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai – has now won five races in a row.

It is a sequence that started with his nail-biting victory over Eagle Top in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot – where he is pencilled in to race next month – before he won the Prix Foy at Longchamp in September.

Postponed missed the ensuing Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe due to complications surrounding his move along with 34 other horses owned by the Sheikh from Luca Cumani’s Newmarket stables to those of Roger Varian.

Cumani’s strike-rate with the Sheikh’s horses in Britain had dropped from an impressive 24 per cent the previous season to as low as 14 per cent.

So far this year, Varian has saddled 30 horses in the Sheikh’s distinctive yellow and black spotted silks for nine winners, a strike-rate of 30 per cent.

“I am really proud of this horse and, since he has joined Roger, I think he has improved,” Sheikh Mohammed Obaid said.

“Whatever people say, I think the benefit is from Roger and his staff, nobody else.”

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Massaat is set for a break after he finished ninth in the Derby behind Harzand an hour-and-a-half after Postponed’s triumph.

Massaat was awash with sweat in the preliminaries, and Paul Hanagan had his mount too close to a fast early pace in third for much for the race. The English 2,000 Guineas runner-up paid the price in the final 500m and fell away to finish ninth.

Connections are keen to have another go at trying to race beyond 1,600m on his return to action.

“The obvious thing everybody is going to say is that he did not stay, but he was gone too far out,” Angus Gold, the Minister of Finance’s racing manager, said.

“He has a lovely spot in the race, was a bit keen early as we had trained him for a Guineas and the minute Paul went for him he went backwards. He definitely stays a mile-and-a-quarter. We will give him a break and review.”

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